Monday, 13 June 2016

Blog Tour + Guest Post + Giveaway - Genesis Girl by Jennifer Bardsley

Eighteen-year-old Blanca has lived a sheltered life. Her entire childhood has been spent at Tabula Rasa School where she’s been protected from the Internet. Blanca has never been online and doesn’t even know how to text. Her lack of a virtual footprint has made her extremely valuable and upon graduation Blanca, and those like her, are sold to the highest bidders. Blanca is purchased by Cal McNeal, who uses her to achieve personal gain. But the McNeal’s are soon horrified by just how obedient and non-defiant Blanca is. All those mind-numbing years locked away from society have made her mind almost impenetrable. By the time Blanca is ready to think for herself, she is trapped. Her only chance of escape is to go online.

It doesn’t matter if you are writing a letter to your grandma, a report for your boss, or the next great American novel, here are five simple tricks to make your writing pop.

1. Say what you are going to say.

Be very clear about what your intentions are. “Dear Grandma, Thank you for my new baseball bat.” Boom! Grandma knows she is reading a thank you letter. In a work of fiction, the reader should understand the basic elements of the plot within the first ten pages.

2. Avoid adverbs.

In general, if you feel the need to use an adverb it means that your verb isn’t strong enough. “Profits from the past quarter grew quickly,” is okay. “Profits from the past quarter skyrocketed,” is thrilling.

3. Don’t use too many italics.

I get it. I really do. Italics make things sound interesting. Like, exceptionally interesting. But the thing is, all those italics are annoying. The make reading difficult. If your writing relies on italics to convey emotion, that’s a major problem.

4. Revise. Revise. Revise.

Unless you are a literary genius, the first few drafts of whatever you write will probably be crap. Now, there’s no need to revise the heck out of your thank you letter to grandma, but if you are writing something really important be sure to tweak it several times before you print out your final draft.

5. Keep on writing no matter what.

The best way to improve your writing is to practice. When you’re in high school and your teacher assigns you a five page paper it can be terrifying. But by the time you reach college a five page paper is a piece of cake. The more you write the easier it becomes. The easier it becomes, the better your writing gets.

About the Author

Jennifer Bardsley writes the parenting column “I Brake for Moms” for The Everett Daily Herald. Her debut YA novel, “Genesis Girl” will be published by Month9Books on June 14, 2016, with the sequel releasing in 2017. “Genesis Girl” is about a teenager who has never been on the Internet. Jennifer however, is on the web all the time as “The YA Gal” with over 20,000 followers on Facebook, and 15,000 followers on Instagram. On Facebook, she hosts the weekly instant book club called #TakeALookTuesday where YA Gal friends geek out, share pictures of what they are reading, and chat about books. Jennifer is a member of SCBWI, The Sweet Sixteens debut author group, and is founder of Sixteen To Read. An alumna of Stanford University, Jennifer lives near Seattle, WA where she enjoys spending time with her family and her poodle, Merlin.

About Me

I have three currently published short stories (Escaping Rapture which is part of the After Tomorrow anthology, Renee and the Wolf which is part of the Mystical Bites anthology, and The Curse of the Sea). My previously published novel Girl Meets Underworld and As We Lie Dying, a short story, are both being rewritten along with a bunch of other stories that are fighting for my attention. I run A Book Addict's Bookshelves.